Game Preview: Will Suns Rebound vs. Timberwolves?
Who: Phoenix Suns at Minnesota Timberwolves
When: Friday, Jan. 13 at 6:00 pm MST
Where: Target Center, Minneapolis, MN
Spread: Suns +5.5 (via SI Sportsbook)
The Phoenix Suns surprised nearly everybody in Tuesday night's win over the Golden State Warriors, perhaps giving hope that they could do the same on the second night of a back-to-back against the Denver Nuggets.
That dream was quickly shaken.
Denver properly disposed of a Suns team that only had nine total players available and just one of their typical starters (Mikal Bridges) in the lineup as Devin Booker, Cam Johnson, Chris Paul and Deandre Ayton all did not play in either of the first two games of the road trip.
Ayton and Landry Shamet could potentially play in Friday night's meeting against the Minnesota Timberwolves while the others will be out.
A loss to the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday stopped a four-game winning streak for Minnesota, who are two games below .500 at 20-22.
The Timberwolves are one of the more efficient teams in the league when it comes to field goal percentage, as their 49.1% conversion rate is third in the NBA. Big man Rudy Gobert is second in the league in rebounds per night with 12.
Minnesota's scoring comes from shooting guard Anthony Edwards (23.6) and big man Karl-Anthony Towns (20.8), as both average over 20 ppg. Edwards has paced the Wolves in scoring in 11 of their last 13 games, hitting over 25 points in nine of those contests.
The two teams battled twice earlier in November with Phoenix coming away victorious in both meetings.
The Suns hope to defend the perimeter better after the Nuggets shot 44% from downtown.
"I thought the transition defense early in the game which was a great plan. If I was sitting here in Denver and the altitude and teams coming off the back-to-back, I'd do the same thing," head coach Monty Williams said after the game.
Phoenix will also need more help in the scoring department, as Torrey Craig led everyone with a whopping 16 points on the night.
The Suns have one final game on their road trip against the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday, one of the top teams in the league at the moment. First, however, they must handle business against a Minnesota team that would love to put themselves level with Phoenix in the Western Conference standings.
